An LC/MS-MS Screening Method for Synthetic Glucocorticoids Based on Pharmacological Structure-Activity Relationships
In: W Schänzer, H Geyer, A Gotzmann, U Mareck (eds.) Recent Advances In Doping Analysis (14). Sport und Buch Strauß - Köln 2006 Monica Mazzarino, Maria Cristina Braganò, Francesco Botrè An LC/MS-MS screening method for synthetic glucocorticoids based on pharmacological structure-activity relationships Laboratorio Antidoping, Federazione Medico-Sportiva Italiana, Roma, Italy INTRODUCTION The last few years have shown a remarkable evolution of the approach utilized at an international level to control the abuse of drugs in sport. A series of preventive actions have been put in place by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to deter the illicit use of performance-enhancing agents. These actions are complementary to the traditional activity of the anti-doping laboratories, which remains a key component of any effective anti-doping policy. At the same time, there has been recent discovery of “designer steroids” [1-2] and, more generally, other previously unknown substances endowed with pharmacologically properties, specifically designed and synthesized with the aim of improving sport performance without the risk of being caught through anti-doping control. This has resulted in a more or less pronounced revision of analytical screening protocols to allow also the detection of those novel “designer drugs”. These compounds were not originally included in the WADA prohibited list, the international reference document detailing all the substances and methods forbidden for use by athletes [3]. This situation has led to the development of alternative analytical methods capable of detecting the presence of one or more drugs in human urine belonging to the same class of congeners, based on the recognition of common portions of the molecular structure.
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